Everton boss David Moyes admits his squad are beginning to feel the heat of playing a gruelling schedule of European matches and Premier League games.

Moyes saw his injury-hit outfit lose 2-0 at home to Benfica on Thursday in their latest Europa League game.

The defeat gives them added pressure now as they try to qualify for the next stage after back-to-back defeats to the Portuguese giants.

Progress is still in Everton's own hands, and a victory in their next game away to AEK Athens should see them advance.

But Everton have now gone seven matches without a victory ahead of Sunday's trip to West Ham, and they are too close to the relegation zone for comfort.

Moyes is likely to have striker Louis Saha back for the Upton Park clash, but he is the only one of Everton's wounded stars likely to be involved.

Moyes is still without Phil Neville, Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar, Victor Anichebe, James Vaughan and Leon Osman, with little sign of any of them being available until next month at the earliest.

Moyes, for the first time, concedes that he has occasional feelings of deep frustration that Everton are playing in Europe without the right resources, and their domestic form is suffering.

He said: "Regrets? I have tried not to have any regrets about it (playing in Europe).

"But the more and more games you play in it, the more and more times you realise that some other managers have talked a lot of sense about the number of games in the Europa League.

"With the squads we have got, us particularly, it is very difficult to win Premier League games when you have got so many midweek games.

"The word rotation gets used to make sure everyone is as fresh as they can be.

"But we do not have that depth of squad, so we could look back and say that Europe has been a hindrance to us.

"I don't like talking that way. I have always wanted to talk positively about playing in Europe, we always want to qualify.

"But undoubtedly it could be having some effect on the domestic results we are getting now."

Everton have got a good recent record at West Ham, so Moyes sees the chance of reversing their current trend.

He says: "As a manager it is down to me to put things right, to find a winning formula from the ranks that I have here.

"In the past I have tended to do that, I feel it is probably one of my strengths.

"The international break coming up may well give a few players chance to get nearer to fitness for the games after that, people like Leon Osman, Neville and Pienaar. They would be closer to fitness by the end of another fortnight.

"But I have been saying that for a few weeks now, and it has not been happening, our I would have had some back by now.

"Maybe we are also a bit tired, I am sure of that. Playing Sunday, Thursday, Sunday is bound to make you tired.

"But players always want to play. You are tired if you have worked hard in games, and that is how it should be.

Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov is suspended for the trip to east London.

Having been sent off last weekend against Aston Villa, he was able to play in the Europa League home defeat by Benfica, with the three-game domestic ban starting at West Ham.

Former West Ham captain Lucas Neill and Dutchman John Heitinga, both ineligible for the Benfica game, come back into the squad.